’60 Minutes’ Reporter Asks Tim Walz Whether He ‘Can Be Trusted To Tell the Truth’ Following ‘Misrepresentation’ of His Background
60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker grilled Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz on whether he could “be trusted to tell the truth” following his history of “misrepresentation.”
During a special Monday episode of 60 Minutes, which included interviews with Walz and Vice President Kamala Harris, Whitaker noted that Walz had “been criticized for embellishing or telling outright falsehoods about his military record and about his travels to Asia in the 1980s.”
Interviewing Walz, Whitaker said, “In your debate with JD Vance, you said, ‘I’m a knucklehead at times,’ and I think you were referring to the time that you said that you were in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square unrest when you were not.”
“Yeah,” replied Walz.
Whitaker then questioned, “Is that kind of misrepresentation? Isn’t that more than just being a knucklehead?”
“I think folks know who I am, and I think they know the difference between someone expressing emotion, telling a story, getting a date wrong by– rather than a pathological liar like Donald Trump,” the Democratic vice presidential nominee argued.
Whitaker shot back, “But I think it comes down to the question of whether— whether you can be trusted to tell the truth.”
Walz concluded, “Yeah, well, I can. I think I can. I will own up to being a knucklehead at times, but the folks closest to me know that I keep my word.”
In recent months, Walz has been criticized for making misleading and outright false claims about his background.
Walz was accused of stolen valor after he falsely claimed to have carried weapons “in war” – a remark he blamed on “grammar” after being confronted by CNN anchor Dana Bash.
During his debate against Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance last week, Walz was also confronted about his false claim about being “in Hong Kong during the deadly Tiananmen Square protests in the spring of 1989.”
Asked by debate moderator Margaret Brennan to “explain that discrepancy,” Walz replied, “I’ve tried to do the best I can, but I’ve not been perfect, and I’m a knucklehead at times.”
Watch above via CBS.
